Feel The Heat. Cheris Hodges

a male voice said from behind her. “Am I interrupting something here?”

      Damn! He’s gay. I should’ve known that it was too good to be true, she thought as she started to back away. “I’m sorry,” she said turning to who she thought was Brent’s boyfriend. “This place had been empty for so long, when I heard movement, I just had to come see what was going on. Welcome to the building, I’m Mimi.”

      “Whoa, I don’t live here,” he said. “I’m Jamal, by the way.”

      Mimi smiled. “Nice to meet you. Well, I’ve done the nosy neighbor thing, so I guess it’s time for me to go.”

      “Don’t leave yet, pretty lady,” he said. “Me and my boy hang out a lot. Why don’t you and some of your equally pretty female friends show us the neighborhood?”

      “Jamal,” Brent chided. “Leave Ms. Collins alone.”

      Jamal snapped his fingers. “As in Mimi Collins? Damn, girl, you were all over the news today.”

      Brent looked from Jamal to Mimi. “The news?”

      Mimi fanned her hand. “It was nothing serious. Just...”

      Jamal pointed at her. “She writes that blog, the Misadventures of Mimi. Women swear by it and you’re hard on the brothers, if I must say so myself.”

      Mimi folded her arms across her chest. “Only those who deserve it. Did I step on your toes, Jamal?”

      “Sassy and fine. We should get married,” he said with a wink. “You going out tonight? Maybe I can give you some material to write about?”

      “You’re doing a great job of that right now.” Mimi turned to Brent. “It was nice meeting you, Brent.” She shot Jamal a salty glance. “The pleasure was all yours.” As Mimi walked away, she felt Brent and Jamal watching her. She couldn’t help but put a little twist in her hips as she walked to her door. Life just got a little more interesting.

Chapter 3

      When MJ returned to Mimi’s she found her friend sitting on the sofa with her laptop resting on her thighs.

      “You’re kidding me, right?” she asked.

      “I’ve got to start locking my door,” Mimi quipped. She took a look at MJ and shot her a thumbs-up. “Work it, lady. You look great.”

      MJ smoothed her knee-skimming black leather dress. The spaghetti straps highlighted her toned arms and ample bosom. “This old thing?”

      “Whatever. I bet you bought it as soon as your ‘client’ invited you to the lounge tonight.”

      “For the last time, we have a professional relationship and that’s it. Why aren’t you dressed?”

      “Do you know who just moved in here?” she asked with a gleam in her eyes.

      “Who? The Rock?”

      Mimi rolled her eyes. “I need you to get over your obsession with Dwayne Johnson.”

      “La-la-la, I’m not listening! But can you get dressed already?” MJ said.

      “Brent Daniels is my new neighbor.”

      MJ brought her hand to her mouth. “The lawyer who never loses?”

      Mimi nodded and pointed to the picture on her laptop. “This does him no justice. That man is superfine.”

      “And how do you know this?”

      “Because I heard movement in the empty unit, so I went to see what was going on. He answered the door and it was all I could do to keep drool from dripping out of my mouth.”

      MJ glanced at his picture and shook her head. “That’s your type.”

      Mimi turned her head back to the screen. Brent was milk chocolate with slate-gray eyes, a body built for sin and redemption, and a heart-stopping smile. Okay, that was everything that sent her heart fluttering, but looks only went so far.

      Roderick Mason had been a master at teaching that lesson. He’d promised her the fairy tale, but ended up being the frog. Not only had he cheated on Mimi, but he’d stolen her credit card and bought the other woman an engagement ring.

      Livid, she’d gone straight to the internet after pressing charges against Roderick for identity theft and told her story of betrayal, with pictures and the police report. Who knew that heartbreak would’ve given her a new career?

      “I’m not saying he isn’t fine, but the last thing I’m looking for is a serious relationship,” Mimi said. “But I wouldn’t mind waking up with him on a Sunday morning.”

      MJ sucked her teeth. “There you go with that Sunday morning nonsense. You need to wake up and go to church some Sunday morning, instead of deciding that your Saturday night was a mistake.”

      Mimi laughed, thinking that she hadn’t had one of those Saturday nights in a long time. Even though most of her blog posts were about relationships, Mimi had decided that she enjoyed being single. She reveled in her freedom to do whatever she wanted to without questions from anyone.

      “Whatever, Mikey. I’m not like you, who has to know a man’s Beacon score before you allow him to buy you a drink.”

      “Shut up and please get dressed.”

      Mimi glanced at the screen one last time. Brent was nice eye candy, but she was sure that he was one of those men with a phone full of women happy to warm his bed the minute he called. Rising to her feet, Mimi headed to her bedroom to get dressed.

      * * *

      Brent was impressed with the lounge Jamal had chosen. The smooth jazz soothed him as he sat at the bar. “I’m surprised you’d come to a joint like this,” Brent said to his friend after they ordered drinks and hot wings.

      “Because this is the spot where you meet the women who are classy in the streets and freaks in the sheets.”

      Brent shook his head. “It’s always about chasing women for you, huh?”

      Jamal nodded toward a couple of women who were standing at the entrance of the club. “Those are women worth chasing,” Jamal said.

      Brent sipped his drink and shook his head. “You’re something else. What are you going to do when the right woman comes along?”

      “She doesn’t exist. So I’m going to buy Miss Right Now a drink.” Jamal casually walked over to the entrance and greeted the women he had noticed from the bar. Brent was about to order another drink when he spotted her. Mimi Collins was a vision in gold. Her full lips were painted red and those expressive eyes of her shone in the dim light of the lounge. Her smooth skin looked as if it were carved from mythical wood. The way she wore that knee-skimming strapless gold dress that hugged her curves like a second skin made his body hard as a brick. “Damn,” he muttered as he set his drink on the bar. The bartender noticed Brent’s stare.

      “Brother, you don’t stand a chance,” he said.

      “What are you talking about?”

      “If you keep staring at Mimi like that, when she comes over here, she’s going to give you hell,” he said.

      “I wasn’t staring... Wait, you know Mimi?”

      “Firecracker? Yeah. Went to college with her and Michael.”

      “Michael? Is that her husband or something?”

      He nodded at the woman standing next to Mimi. “Michael, who goes by MJ, is her best friend. She helps me with the marketing for the club.” The bartender extended his hand to Brent. “I’m Nicolas Prince, the owner.”

      Brent shook his hand. “Owner and bartender?”

      “A little short-staffed